The World Goes Around In Circles
by WinglessCrows
Summary: "How come you're called the pirate hunter, when you're a pirate yourself?" A one-shot about how Zoro got his nickname and how his stupid captain was somehow involved. Based on a headcanon of mine.
**Back in my favorite fandom! Woohoo! It's certainly been awhile since I wrote a One Piece fic, but this is based on a headcanon I have and I thought that I might as well make it into a fic, so here you go :)**

 **Edit: Corrected some grammar and weird sentences. And thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed the story. You are all wonderful people!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece**

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The World Goes in Circles

"Zoro-san, can I ask you something?" Brook asked one evening, when they're all just enjoying the quiet. The shitty cook was serving everyone their drinks of choice, because everyone is stubborn and wants different things, and Zoro is surprised that the cook is willing to make nine different drinks for them, but the more he suffers, the happier Zoro feels.

"Sure, ask away," Zoro answered and took a swig of the booze, which was a little to the sweet side, but Nami liked it and, unfortunately, she was in charge of the shopping.

"How come you're called the pirate hunter, when you're a pirate yourself?"

To Zoro's surprise, the small talk around the table died down and everyone, except for Luffy who couldn't really care less, just stared at him, because it was so rare for Zoro to talk about himself, and here was an opportunity to learn a little bit about the man, who was so goddamn loyal to their stupid pirate captain.

"You look like you're expecting a big fantastic tale, I'm not Usopp" ("Oi") "I just happened to be a bounty hunter before I became a pirate and during that time I earned the name 'Pirate Hunter', that's all there is to that," Zoro said and finished his drink only to have curly brows refill it as he asked another question:

"But if you were a bounty hunter, how come you got the name _pirate_ hunter?"

"I just happened to target pirates, that's all."

"And why did you do that," a curious Robin, who had gotten a little closer, asked as if she was trying to solve a crime and Zoro was the key witness. And as she looked very intensely at Zoro, he noticed how everyone had also gotten a bit closer and sighed. Zoro had to admit that this wasn't a battle he could win, because he knew if he refused them for too long, Luffy would eventually butt in and demand he tell them, because even if he didn't care, he did like to torment Zoro and give the crew what they wanted. So much for loyalty.

"I was hoping to run into a certain pirate."

"A certain pirate? Who?" Nami asked, and she looked so interested that Zoro thought he might try something.

"I'll tell you if you erase my debt."

"I'll let you choose the booze on the next island and we'll call it a deal," Nami declined with a wicked little smile.

"As long as you're paying," Zoro retorted, but weirdly enough Nami agreed to that and he continued, "About 9 or 10 years ago I lived on an island that had the dojo I trained in. The middle of the island was a big kingdom in East Blue and usually my dojo didn't have anything to do with it, but this one day, someone came to us and asked for assistance in catching two criminals and we agreed. I ended up going alone, because I was the strongest, and there weren't really anyone who could challenge me in the dojo. I was supposed to catch these two thieves, who were both around my age, one older and one younger, if I recall correctly, but I never actually succeeded. Every day, for a solid week, I chased them around town, forest, trash dump, everywhere on the island and I never got them. I remember once, when I got close to catching the younger one and the other one flung himself at me and send me flying off the edge of a cliff, but either way, after a week of no success or progress, the authorities decided to relieve me of my duties and I returned to my dojo. I didn't really want to admit defeat, so when I left my dojo and became a bounty hunter, I decided to hunt pirates, because I had heard them talking about setting out to sea as such..." Zoro trailed off, having talked for a very long time and finished his drink in one swift motion, this time the cook didn't refill it.

"Did you ever catch them?" Chopper asked, being the biggest fan of stories, especially Usopp's.

"I probably didn't. I don't even remember what they looked like and I never got their names, but I have a feeling that I never caught them."

"What was the name of the Kingdom?" Luffy suddenly asked, which surprised everyone (Usopp actually fell out of his chair in shock), because 1) Luffy had actually been listening and 2) Luffy was interested in someone's past. The majority of the strawhats suspected that this was solely because it was Zoro, but why did he ask about the kingdom? Luffy didn't know shit about any kingdoms.

"Um, Goa Kingdom," Zoro answered, mildly dumbfounded.

"Hmm~" Luffy chimed, "And were they strong? The two pirates?"

Zoro didn't like the devilish little grin on his captain's face, but answered anyway.

"Yeah, they were pretty strong, considering how young they were."

"And did they have any trademarks that could help you remember them?"

"Um, they were quite athletic, but the younger one was more flexible, although the older one was clearly the stronger of the two."

"Anything else?" Luffy was now uncomfortably close to Zoro and he found himself backing away slightly as Luffy's grin just grew wider.

"Uh, the younger one had a scar and always wore a … !"

The realization was almost too overwhelming for Zoro right at that moment, so he got up and finished the bottle of booze the cook had put away only moments earlier. Luffy who had figured it all out much earlier was just lying on the floor laughing so hard that he couldn't even explain why he was literally crying with laughter even though the others kept asking what the hell was so funny.

Eventually he calmed down, but only to start teasing Zoro, which just helped confused the hell out of everyone that wasn't the two of them even more and thus they did not understand what the hell was going on.

"Imagine if you had succeeded ~shishishi~ He would have kicked your ass so badly!" Luffy was laughing again, but this time Zoro joined in (again confusing the remaining crew), because this situation was just so absurd. Yet he couldn't be too surprised, because this was Luffy and strange things happened around him and damn if the world wouldn't have him recruit a person who had been trying to catch him ten years earlier.

"Okay, someone needs to start explaining," Franky demanded, though the request was a bit weak in comparison to how the shipwright would normally talk, but the situation was odd, so who blamed him?

Zoro opened a new bottle and took a swig before answering, "It just so happens that the pirate I was trying to catch, caught me first."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Zoro smiled and looked fondly at his captain. "The young pirate I was trying to catch had a scar under his left eye and always wore a strawhat."

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 **I'm a big supporter of the theory that Luffy and Zoro lived on same island without ever knowing, and if they did, what are the chances that they never met, but just don't remember?**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading it and if you did, please let me know with a fave and a cheeky little review ;)**


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